Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Myers' Last Pitch in Philly?

A few reporters gathered around Ruben Amaro Jr. before Game 1 of the NLCS to ask him about Brett Myers, who wasn’t happy to be left off the NLCS roster.

Asked if Myers has thrown his last pitch for the Phillies, Amaro said just because the Phillies left him off their roster it doesn’t preclude them from re-signing him in the offseason. Asked after batting practice if the Phillies’ decision to leave him off the roster precludes him from wanting to come back, Myers shrugged his shoulders and said, “Who cares?”

It would be interesting to see how Myers would fit in the Phillies’ plans. They already have starters Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ, Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick and others signed or under their control. Brad Lidge will be the closer. Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero also are under contract.

“Are five starters going to do it for a season?” Amaro said. “We’re going to need 10. We’ll probably need 10 or 15 starters with how quickly they fall by the wayside. Jamie, we think he’s going to come back. He’s coming off major surgery. He will be 47. I’d like to think that we can count on him, but not necessarily. We haven’t thought that far down the line, but we’re still going to need a lot of pitching.”

Amaro said he doesn’t know if Myers’ future is as a starter or reliever.

“The beauty of Brett Myers is that he can do both,” Amaro said.

Myers was upset about the decision. Manuel said Myers shrugged his shoulders and said nothing as Manuel told him the news Wednesday.

“I guess he should be upset,” Amaro said. “It’s something that’s tough to take, especially after he worked so hard to get back. But we said it all along, we have to put the best 25 players we think it’s going to take to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. Whether we made the right move or the wrong move, we felt it was the way to go.”

Thankfully, none of you are teh manager or GM of the team. You’re letting his personality and off field antics cloud your judgement of him as a player. THink, two years ago he was the ace of the staff, yet willingly went to the bullpen when asked. Last year he was the #2 yet when asked to go to the minors to fix his mechanics did so willingly and game back with a purpose. THis year, despite having an injury that everyone thought would end his season, he worled his *** off to be able to come back and be ready for the stretch and playoffs. He’s not to blame that CHarlie and Dumhead, the pitching coach, misused him too early causing him an arm injury. Give me 25 players like Myers and I’ll bring you a WS parade every year, even with Philliesphans managing them. A bit of respect for a player who has only ever done what he was asked to do, whether he liked it, agreed with it, or not

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I essentially agree with you on Myers and his attitude and performance. However, the fly in the ointment is how much Myers will want to remain with the Phillies or what the Phillies would be willing to pay him.

Myers may be willing, but he is a complete knucklehead. Don’t blame coaching for the problems he had last season. He came into the season completely unprepared because he was intent on being the closer, and that wasn’t the game plan. Sure, he went down to get his act together, but that was an absolute necessity. Otherwise, he wasn’t getting back on the mound last season.

Add on the fact that he makes way too much money and you can count on him being in another uni next season. Arbitration is out of the question. If they need another starter, I would re-sign Pedro. Cheaper and better.
Thanks for everything Brett, but ciao.

Brett Myers has the perfect personality to be a Mutt and I wouldn’t be surprised if he signed with them and uses revenge as motivation to try to help the Mutts win the East. The wife beating and drinking allegations always made me wish he would go away. That restaurant incident that happened earlier this year underscored Brett’s propensity to draw negative attention to himself. Truth be told, I think the overall character of this team can only get even better without a Brett Myers around.

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